Safety holder for heels in connection with ski bindings



De- 17, 1968 A. GEMBRucl-l, .1R 3,416,812

SAFETY HOLDER FOR EELS IN CONNECTION WITH SKI BINDINGS Filed July 15, 19e? United States Patent C 3,416,812 SAFETY HOLDER FOR HEELS IN CONNECTION WITH SKI BlNDlNGS Alfred Gembruch, Jr., Ludenscheid, Germany, assignor to Alfred Gembruch, Ludenscheid, Germany Filed July 13, 1967, Ser. No. 653,178 v Claims priority, application Germany, Aug. 26, 1966, G 47,764 4 Claims. (Ci. 280-11.35)

ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Load reversible heel holder for skis in 'which a heel engaging member is pivoted to an inner frame rwhidh is adjustable in an outer frame that is adapted for mounting on a ski and rwth a lever pivoted to the inner frame moveable upwardly to release the heel holder and down- Wardly to move the heel holder into clamping position and fwith a spring loaded linkage connected between the inner frame and the lever which moves over center when the lever is moved to clamping position.

'I'he present invention relates to a safety holder for heels for use in connection with ski bindings, which comprises a heel Iholder adapted to be tilted upwardly. A safety holder of the general type involved is known which #when stepping into the holder automatically closes whereas \when being subjected to an overload automatically frees the shoe. Said known safety holder is also provided with means which when actuated at will, for instance by ligfht pressure by means of the ski stick, can be opened. For adjusting the safety opening mechanism and for adapting said holder to various shoe sizes, a single adjusting mechanism is provided. The heel holder has a line adjustment, and the respective safety .adjustment is optically indicated by an indicating device.

The above mentioned heel holder has, however, the drawback thlat in view of the combination of the adjustment of the safety mechanism and the adaptation to various shoe sizes within a single adjusting device, the adjusting range is rather limited. Moreover, the above mentioned known heel safety holder is rather complicated and expensive in view of numerous bearing areas and bearing surfaces.

It is, therefore, ,an object of the present invention to provide a heel safety holder for ski bindings which 'will overcome the above mentioned drawbacks.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a heel safety holder which is relatively simple in construction, can easily be assembled and has a relatively wide adjusting range so as to be suitable for a greater number of shoe sizes.

'Ilhese and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section through the closed heel safety holder according to the invention, said section being taken yalong the line yI-I of FIG. 3.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the heel safety holder of FIG. 1 in opened condition.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the heel safety holder of FIG. 1 in closed condition thereof.

The theel safety holder for ski bindings with an urplwardly tiltable heel holder according to the present invention is characterized primarily in that the heel holder is tiltably journalled on a slide or carriage which is displaceable in longitudinal direction of said holder and is also tiltably mounted in a tightening lever. The said tightening lever is by means of a bolt engaging an inclined 3,416,812 Patented Dec. 17, 1968 "ice surface lwhen the safety holder is in its closing position linked to one end of two links the other ends of which are interconnected by a spring-loaded pin. In this way it is possible to adjust the relief force independently of the shoe size and to increase both adjusting ranges so that the safety holder 'will be suitable for three to four shoe sizes. This makes the heel safety holder according to the invention particularly suitable for rented skis. The manufacturing costs can be lowered and the assembly is considerably simplified so that the overall expenses are considerably reduced. While it is necessary when closing the tightening lever to bend down, this is not considered a drawback because the catch strap has to be connected to the foot at .any rate. Moreover, by closing the safety holder by hand, it is easier to cheok whether the holder is rproperly closed and whether the correct relief pressure has been adjusted.

In order to make sure that the heel safety holder will already after a relatively short stroke of the .fheel holder be relieved by pulling up the heel when the skier falls, the bolt by means of 'which the link is linked to the tightening lever is arranged at such la point in said lever that Iwhen the safety holder is closed, it is located on one side Iof a connecting line between the pivot bearing of the tightening lever on the heel holder and the spring-loaded pin and in opening position of the safety holder is located on the other side of said connecting line.

According to a practical embodiment of the invention, the spring-loaded pin is displaceably guided in an oblong opening of a threaded spindle which is xedly connected to a support carrying the inclined surface. This spindle is surrounded by a helical spring one end of which rests against said pin whereas the other end rests against an adjusting disc which is adapted to be screwed onto the threaded spindle. The threaded spindle is adjustable in a manner known per se by means of a nut which is rotatably journalled on a bent portion of a base plate on which the slide or carriage is displaceable.

Referring now more specifically to the drawing, the safety ski holder laccording to the invention is by means of a base plate 10 connected to a ski not shown. The said base plate 10 has both sides provided with inwardly bent guiding means 1-1 in which a slide or carriage 12 is displaceably guided. `On one bent portion 13- of the base plate 10 there is rotatably journalled a nut 14. The slide 12 has a U-shaped cross section and is iixedly connected to a support 15, 'for instance by means of rivets 16. Support 15 is provided with an inclined surface 17. Connected to support 15 is a threaded spindle 18 which has an oblong opening 19, a thread 20 and a thread 21, said thread 20 having a greater diameter than the thread 21. An adjusting disc 22 is screwed onto the thread 20, while the thread 21 fits into the nut 14. A heel holder 25 is tiltably journalled about a bolt 26 at the front end of the slide 12. The heel holder 25 by means of an extension 27 extends below the heel of a shoe and by means of two wings 28 engages a groove 29 above the heel. At the rear end of the wings 28 there is provided a ring 30l for a catch strap not shown. The heel holder 25 is by means of an additional bolt 31 pivotally mounted on a tightening lever 32 to which by means of a bolt 33 one end of two links 3-4 is linked. The other ends of said two links are connected to a pin 35 which is displaceably guided in the oblong opening 19 :against the elfect of a spring 36.

When the safety holder is in its closing position, pin 35 is in the oblong opening `19 displaced toward the right while the spring 36 is tensioned. Bolt 33 is located below an imaginary connecting line between the bolt 31 and pin 35 in the beyond dead center position and by means of spring 36 holds the tightening lever l32 and the heel holder 25 in the positions shown in FIG. 1.

When the heel holder 2S is forcibly pulled up, `for instance when a skier -falls forwardly, the heel holder 25 will tilt in clockwise direction about bolt 33, compress spring 36 and by means of pin 35 slides upwardly on the inclined surface 17 of support 115. `In this way said lever 32 leaves its beyond dead center position and will, as soon as it has passed beyond the connecting line between bolt 31 and pin 35, due to the spring 36 jump into its FIG. 2 position in which the heel holder 25 frees the heel. For purposes of closing the heel safety holder, the lever 32 is depressed by hand so that bolt 33 again moves into its beyond dead center position. The relieving force is adjusted by the adjusting disc 22 and can be checked through a window 37 in the tightening lever 32. The position of the heel holder 25 in the longitudinal direction of the ski, which position depends on the respective shoe size, is adjusted by means of nut 14.

What is claimed is:

1. In a heel clamp for skis; a main frame adapted for mounting on a ski, an inner frame slidable on the outer frame in the direction of the length of the ski, la heel holder at one end of said inner frame pivoted to the inner frame near the bottom of the heel holder, a tightening lever pivoted to the heel holder near the top of the heel holder, an inclined surface carried by the inner frame near the heel holder, a first pin carried by the tightening lever which engages said surface when the lever is pushed down so the heel holder is moved to a predetermined heel engaging position, link means pivoted on said pin and extending away from the heel holder, and a second pin at the rear end of said link means spring biased toward said heel holder.

2. A heel clamp according to claim 1 in which said second pin is so located so that a lline drawn 'from the center of said second pin to the center of pivotal connection of said lever to said heel holder will be above the center of said first pin -When said lever is pushed down and above the center of said lirst pin when said lever is lifted up. l

3. A heel clamp according tovclaim 2 in which a threaded spindle is fixed to said inner frame and extends thereon from near said inclined surface away from said heel holder, a slot in said spindle, said second pin being slidable in said slot, an adjusting disc threaded on the spindle, land a compression spring bearing between said disc and said second pin to thrust the latter toward said heel holder.

4. A heel clamp according to claim 3 which includes a nut threaded on said spindle on the opposite side of said disc from said spring, and a portion of said outer frame rotatably but non-axially moveably engaging said nut so that rotation of the nut will adjust said inner frame on the outer frame.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,291,500 12/1966 Voster et al. 280-11.35 3,337,226 8/1967 Kato ZBO-11.35 3,366,394 1/1968 Shimizu 280-l1.35

FOREIGN PATENTS 879,827 9/1964 Canada.

BENJAMIN HERSH, Primary Examiner.

L. D. MORRIS, IR., Assistant Examiner. 

